This tapestry panel is part of a set of twelve armchairs and two settees ordered in Paris in 1753 by Baron Johann Ernst Bernstorff, Danish ambassador to the court of Versailles between 1744 and 1751. After returning to Denmark, Bernstorff commissioned this seat furniture for the tapestry room of his new residence in Copenhagen that was hung with four wall tapestries of the Amours des Dieux series woven at the Beauvais Manufactory. The tapestry covers are woven with animal and bird subjects after designs by the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755). For a fuller description of the entire set, see, e.g., MMA 35.145.1.

A gauche, l'Empereur à cheval revêtu de son armure s'avance à la tête de son armée ; au fond, les remparts de la ville. Bordures de guirlandes et paniers de fleurs, fruits et légumes, animées de putti ; dans la bordure supérieure, un cartouche indique le sujet de la scène ; il est flanqué de part et d’autre d’un putto tenant une palme, symbole de la gloire

La quatrième pièce de la tenture de l'histoire de saint Gervais et saint Protais représente les deux saints apparaissant de nuit à saint Ambroise. L'archevêque est agenouillé dans la basilique de Saint-Félix et de Saint-Nabor, derrière des balustres du choeur. Le dais du siège épiscopal abrite le prélat qui contemple, présenté par saint Paul, l'apparition lumineuse des deux martyrs. A leurs pieds, sous les nuages qui les supportent, on aperçoit, jonchant le sol, les symboles du paganisme. Les bordures inférieure et supérieure, à larges rinceaux d'acanthe peuplés d'angelots, s'organisent autour d'un cartouche rectangulaire à cuirs. Les bordures latérales sont ornées d'arabesques encadrant des niches à cul-de-four en coquilles dans lesquelles se dressent des statues des deux martyrs.

Fragment de teixit de llana brodat en sedes i fragments d'altres teixits de llana aplicats

Cette tapisserie rectangulaire est cousue avec son pendant représentant un jardinier dans un treillage (voir inv. J 994 - n° d'objet COGJ994), formant ainsi un panneau d'entre-fenêtres. Ce groupe appartient à une série de tapisseries créées par François Boucher pour la Manufacture de Beauvais alors dirigée par Jean-Baptiste Oudry. Ce dernier commande au jeune peintre issu de l'Académie, tout juste de retour d'Italie, une série de cartons illustrant les "Fêtes italiennes". Composée initialement de trois tentures, cette série s'est agrandie au fur et à mesure des années avec de nouvelles commandes. Les deux lés cousus conservés au musée Cognacq-Jay reprennent la composition d'un jardinier et d'une jeune femme appuyés sur un treillage et écoutant un concert, schéma créé pour le neuvième tableau parmi les quatorze constitués pour les "Fêtes italiennes" : "La Musique".

As its full-size domed canopy is suspended from the ceiling rather than supported on posts, this tester bed, which bears the stamp of the menuisier Georges Jacob, is a type called lit à la duchesse en impériale. Its original but now fragile hangings, woven in 1782–83 at the Beauvais tapestry manufactory after designs by Jean-Baptiste Huet (1745–1811), have been replaced by modern silk damask, except for the lining of the interior dome. French eighteenth-century beds tended to be lofty, as it was customary to pile them with three or more mattresses filled with straw, wool, horsehair, or feathers. Tobias Smollett (1721–1771) noted in 1766, “French beds are so high, that sometimes one is obliged to mount them by the help of steps.”[1]The custom of receiving visitors while reposing in a large and elegantly fitted out bed was practiced in France during the eighteenth century mostly by aristocratic women. The Museum’s imposing piece of furniture with its exquisitely carved floral decoration, the work of an unknown carver, must have formed a splendid backdrop for such official calls or congratulatory visits. In 1791 the bed is documented as standing in the large bedchamber of Guyonne-Marguerite de Durfort de Lorge, duchesse de Choiseul-Praslin (1737–1806), at her Parisian home, the Hôtel de Belle Isle. Following the turmoil of the Revolution and the political changes of the early nineteenth century, the bed was sold in Paris in 1830. It became part of the famous collections at Hamilton Palace, South Lanarkshire, Scotland, the residence of Alexander Hamilton Douglas, tenth Duke of Hamilton (1767–1852), where it was placed in one of the state rooms. The duke’s grandson sold the contents of the palace, including the bed, at a highly anticipated auction that took place in 1882. Through the intermediation of several dealers, the bed was acquired in 1897 by the financier and railroad executive George J. Gould (1864–1923). His wife, the former actress Edith M. Kingdon (1864–1921), used it in her bedroom of their New York town house.[Daniëlle Kisluk-Grosheide, 2010]Footnotes:[1] Tobias George Smollett. Travels through France and Italy. London, 1766. New ed.: Introduction by James Morris. Travellers' Classics 11. Fontwell, Sussex, 1969, p. 43.

Like the Ages of Man tapestries (also on display in this gallery and perhaps designed in the same artist's workshop), the subject of this tapestry explores the cyclical nature of time. Embodying October, peasants sow the fields with seed in a crisp Autumnal landscape. Jupiter, seated on a plough, looks down the scene. A Zodiacal belt encloses this medallion, with Scorpio triumphant. Pairs of women with hourglasses separate the signs, whilst the background shifts from bright daylight through dusk to dark night, thence back through dawn to day. In the upper corners are SUPERNAS, actually a summer wind, and NOTUS, a south wind. In the lower corners are further charmingly-observed scenes of country life.

Broderies de paillettes dorées : 2 rangées de paillettes rondes dorées avec au dessus une guirlande de fleurs en paillettes dorées et passé de soie rose et noir, en bas, paillettes et feuilles dorées sur le contre-pli.

This tapestry depicts the goddess Diana bathing with her nymphs after the hunt (in classical legend, Diana was the goddess of the hunt). The scene takes place before the ruins of a classical temple, beyond which an idealized landscape stretches into the distance. The elaborate borders feature a frieze populated by classical deities between cartouches depicting the signs of the zodiac. The floral cartouches in the corners surround images of a phoenix, a bird of paradise, a dolphin, and a lion. The tapestry was one of at least six depicting scenes from classical mythology, after paintings by Laurent de la Hyre (the original painting for this scene is now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu, California). A similar set of tapestries, with variant borders, is recorded in the collection of Louis XIV.

This piece is part of a set of twelve armchairs and two settees ordered in Paris in 1753 by Baron Johann Ernst Bernstorff, Danish ambassador to the court of Versailles between 1744 and 1751. After returning to Denmark, Bernstorff commissioned this seat furniture for the tapestry room of his new residence in Copenhagen that was hung with four wall tapestries of the Amours des Dieux series woven at the Beauvais Manufactory. This chair illustrates how French furniture and furnishings were imported all over Europe for the enrichment of palaces and mansions far from Paris. The tapestry covers are woven with animal and bird subjects after designs by the painter Jean-Baptiste Oudry (1686–1755).

England

England